Jix took a sigh of relief when the crowds dispersed and gave a smug grin to the others extremely satisfied in what she had helped accomplish and eager to gloat about it already if it werwnt for the chance anyone she didnt want to know could hear her bragging about her little fib.
For the time being she foxuses her attention on the sheriff with an itchy trigger finger. She had no love in her heart for bigots and this man was the worst kind of bigot. A violent unhinged one.
From the mannerisms you can pick up on Median, your best impression of the man is that he is being truthful. That panic seems real, that sorrow and tears seem real. If it wasn't his engorged neck slightly creeping you out, you'd probably be surer.
The female fetchling shakes her head.
"Gavril is personally employed by Baron Stepan Boroi. He serves as houndmaster and is the only one who can control the Baron's favorite dog. Even if he's sent the rest of our kind away, he would have kept Gavril on site if he could."
The oldest of the group of three helps both of the younger fetchlings to their feet.
"We should head for shade row. Thank you again for our lives. Should you need a humble meal or a bed to rest in, please ask for Kios."
And they begin to move away.
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As he spied Median peering more intently at the Sheriff, Irian tried to shift the man's attention away. "Perhaps you could lead us to your home, Sheriff? Maybe there is a clue there that could shed some light on your daughter's whereabouts?"
Median, you take a closer look at the neck of the Sheriff, what details you can glean in the torchlight. Frankly, its disgusting to look at, almost as his neck was a swollen sack of stretched out skin, a dark and murky liquid waiting to burst out at the slightest rupture.
At Irian's suggestion, the sheriff nods and begins to walk towads his home.
Yes, Median goes along with the sheriff, but she tries channeling as they go, to see if it will help the man's horrific, diseased neck. She keeps an eye on it to see if it is affected at all, and also makes sure she stands far enough away that any... bursting... will not touch her.
Loath as she is to go anywhere near the diseased lawman, Tish is just a little more averse to splitting up in a town where folks are mysteriously disappearing and the people's idea of justice was carried out under a dreary tree in the middle of the market square. So, filing away the information the fetchling family had shared for later, Tish grudgingly trudges after her companions at what she considers a safe distance away from Captain Grey.
Jix trudges along behind the party making suere to keep a low profile. This town was clearly on the very edge of a major collapse and Jix was sure of just one thing, she didnt want to be caught up in the,middle of all of it.
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Irian followed along closely behind Gray, trying to make sure to keep himself interposed between the diseased man and his companions. As he felt Median's healing magic wash over him, the warrior gave her a confused look but otherwise continued on, hoping that whatever help they might be able to provide would calm the Sheriff down. The fighter was rather grateful for the added light that illuminated the path, though the fact that they bobbed through the air on wings was a little disconcerting.
Lucian Gray's home is a modest single-story house adjacent to Karpad's modest watch station. On the way over, Lucian speaks of what happened.
"She was just outside, playing at the hour of dusk. We thought it safe for her so close to home, when we called her for supper she..." he falls silent.
"We can't find her anywhere..."
He stops by the yard next to his house, patches of grass and dirt where a young child can find some nature without treading into the dangerous wilderness.
"Any...any insight you can give, if you can find any clue. I must've looked for hours...but I can't find anything."
Median takes a look.
Irian glanced about for clues, though he had never been an outdoorsy type. Still, the tale of the missing child did pull a bit at his sense of duty, and while he couldn't empathize with the Sheriff, he could surely sympathize. The warrior winced as he clanged around, then thought about it and shrugged internally...quiet wasn't exactly going to help them find anything at the moment.
Median and Irian start trotting around the poor excuse for a yard. It wasn't much to look at, and unfortunately didn't provide much in the way of obvious clues to what had transpired, if anything. You don't notice anything obvious, but there isn't a sign of a scuffle or struggle, leading you to believe no force was applied in this yard. But that's as much as you can discover.
Grey excuses himself to see his wife inside, but the soft sobs you hear muffled through the closed front door, you can only imagine the pain of the mother who's lost her child.
Median moves outside the yard, looking for tracks or any sign of disturbance.
Tish patiently waits until the Sheriff is inside his home before approaching the scene, pulling down the scarf covering the lower half of her face as she does. "Well, considering who her father is, I wouldn't be surprised if the girl simply ran away." Nevertheless, she helps search for signs which could point to the reasons behind the girl's disappearance. While the group focuses on the more mundane clues that might be found in the yard, Tish looks for any traces of magic that might still linger in the area. It's a long shot, she knows, but let it not be said that Tish was so heartless that she wouldn't at least try to solve a case involving a missing child.
Laetitia, you don't sense anything magical in the area. Its a rather dismal sight. There's more life in the fire than in the motly lot next to the Grey's home. Still, its always good to be sure of such things, no magical nonsense sussing about.
Lia and Median, on the other hand, find more physical traces. It's hard to tell in the darker twilight of the late day, but there's some strange substance on some grass near the front of the yard. Rubbing it over in your hands, both of you reach the conclusion that its wax. Looking around, there's only torches, no candles. Strange...
Median collects samples of the waxy substance in case they need them for later.
Irian looked at Lia and Median as they collected some stuff from the grass that he had obviously missed. His brow furrowed as he looked at it, then he shrugged and backed off a few steps, letting people more able-minded think about things in peace.
Perhaps if they didn't find anything further they could go back to the Manor and check on the Gavril fellow for the fetchlings. At least maybe one person could go to sleep a little easier this evening.
"Nothing magical afoot," Tish declares, blinking rapidly to dispel the enchantment and return her sight to normal. Lía's question about candles draws a look from the spiteful woman that suggests she thinks the half-elf is a touch slow. But after giving the inquiry more thought and taking into account where they were, Tish realizes that it may be a valid point Lía has raised. "They are where I'm from. But then beeswax is never in short supply around Calistrian temples. They're not the most helpful light source to use out of doors, however." As Median collects samples of the supposed wax, Tish leans in for a perfunctory sniff, seeing if it was anything like the scented candles they used back at the Salon.
"Perhaps there's a trail of it leading away from here. Do you see any more of it?"
Median stoops to pick up the flecks of wax, and in the glow of the bonfires and torches, she rubs the eggshell-white substance between her fingers.
If there was a trail, it may have been stamped out from the local traffic in the area. Unfortunately, while you have wax you don't have a trail.
Lucian Grey returns from the inside of his home, beads of sweat falling down his face. It seems its hard for him to breathe at times, and he starts coughing, holding a handkerchief to block the phlegm.
"Have you found anything?" he asks, his bloodshot eyes filled with a small glint of hope.
We found wax. Any ideas why it would be out here?
"Wax?" Lucian asks. "No-I mean we use them inside, as does everyone. There's even a candlemaker in town for that purpose. But why would wax be here?"
Irian had never been the most complex man, so he let the ladies do the talking to the Sheriff, mainly keeping an eye on the man lest another rage-fit come over him. His ears perked up at the talk of a candlemaker in town, though. If they had found candle wax, that seemed like a possible lead to follow. He had no idea how they'd go about it, though. The warrior was a fairly direct individual, but he doubted "Hey, we found some candle wax where the Sheriff's daughter used to be so thought that maybe you kidnapped her." would go over well.
I don't know, but it seems to be everywhere. Is wax ever used around here to coat jackets to make them rainproof, or something like that?
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Jix stayed near the back of the group, she had never really been one of the smart ones, good at investigation and figuring things out, she was more of a girl of action but at the sight of the wax one thought did cross her mind from her years of experience with the underworld."Sometimes wax is used to make molds of things, like keys n' the such. So's that they can cast the mold later into the actual thing." The ratfolk shrugged nonchalantly, "Just a thought."
The sheriff looks confused.
"You can do that? I wouldn't know, but the chandler of the town may know if someone's bought a large stock."
There's another shriek of sobbing from the inside of Lucian's home, and he hesitates. Resigning himself not to lose his wife to hysteria, he gives you the address to the chandler and heads back inside, his own nerves straining as he tries to soothe his wife's.
Unsure of what else the group could accomplish besides possibly searching more thoroughly, the warrior watched the Sheriff go inside to console his sobbing wife before sighing and turning to the others. He supposed the next order of business was the chandler, so prepared to walk the short distance to the given address once everyone was ready.
Median gathers up more of the wax to compare to the shop in town and in case they needed to compare it to anything else, she wanted to have plenty, since it seemed to currently be their only clue. Then she follows Irian to the Chandler's shop.
The chandlery is a 20 foot by 25 foot rectangular building with a single door. Approaching from your direction, you spot a double door on the side of the hill near the shop, reinforced, chained, and locked.
The lights do not seem to be on, and several rappings on the door do not elicit a summons of any person.
Median tries unlocking the door, just for the practice.
After she fails, as she expected, but is still disappointed by, she looks over at Jix and says
Help a girl out?
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Irian lifted his longsword, preparing to slam the pommel against the window pane, then realized the cleric was speaking to Jix. Sheepishly he lowered his sword, trying to make it look like a strange stretch before he turned away and squinted his eyes as if on the lookout for trouble.
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Median goes to look in the window as well.
Irian glanced sheepishly at the sorceress as he received a nudge for his well-intentioned almost-gaffe. As she lit the interior of the shop, he stepped behind the two ladies at a tasteful distance, tall enough to see over them. Not the most observant of men even in the best of times, his eyes were inevitably drawn more to the figures in front of the window and the nicely curved silhouettes they made in the light. What were they doing here again?
As Lia, Median, and Irian all bunch up near the window, they see no one tending the store. Even the lanterns normally lit during evening hours are snuffed out. There also appears to be, among the candles of various shades and sizes, a beautifully sculpted figure of a man, that stands against the wall carved as if from stone and not wax.
But there are no living individuals, and as you try the door, you feel the regular locking mechanism refuse you entry.
It takes the better part of thirty minutes, but after getting stymied by the lock a few times, eventually the mechanisms give way to the picks and the door clicks to an unlocked state.
Even with your lingering presence at the entrance and the audible click of the unlocking of the door, not even shadows shift on the inside of the shop
Knowing that any chance of stealth was lost, but confident that the Sheriff would be on their side should any questions arise, Median opens the door and (unless something else moves or is in her way), walks over to examine the statue.
Irian remained outside a few more moments, giving the area a good look to ensure no prying eyes were spying the group, then slides into the doorway behind Median, gently pulling his sword free from the scabbard. Quiet buildings could just indicate sleeping owners, but it could also be more nefarious, and the warrior was determined to be ready if the latter option was true.